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Blog — 05
Are You An Existentialist Or Essentialist?
Although most shintô is actually a mixture of the two viewpoints, most people's praxis tends to lean one way or the other. Here's how to tell which side your praxis leans toward.
| Existential shintô |
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Essential shintô |
| Reacts to other religions in an inclusive way, focuses on similarities, syncretism, and universalities |
VS |
Reacts to other religions in an exclusive way, focuses on unique and distinctive elements and practices |
| Has no doctrine, but rather an unsystematic collection of practices, key concepts, ideas and values |
VS |
Attempts to develop a systematic, comprehensive, and coherent doctrine; works to develop a scriptural canon |
| When considered at all, the Emperor is viewed as chief priest of a loosely organized religion |
VS |
Emperor is viewed as chief priest and head of state; all ritual authority flows from him and permeates the religious and political context |
| kami are viewed as awesome, wondrous, and mysterious presences; sometimes personalized in traditional myths and in specific practices, but more often identified with their functions |
VS |
kami are viewed as personal deities, especially those of creation; by extension can be related to all of creation as a by product of those kami; can be protective force for nation |
| tama is viewed as spiritual, vital energy or power related to kami presence in all things; can be specified as soul, collective force, or more generally life-force; not separate from matter |
VS |
tama is viewed as metaphysical, supernatural life-energy or power immanent in the kami-created world mainly concentrated in point sources (imperial tama, family ancestral tama, collective tama of the dead); these sources may infuse an individual's soul |
| Praxis is focused on practices not related to a specific metaphysical or fully articulated doctrinal system; practices are considered traditional and serve to heighten the peoples' sense of community, connectedness and belonging; traditional meaning tends overlay religious experience, although personal experience is also acceptable; praxis is inclusive and fluid |
VS |
Praxis is focused on justifying practices; tends to be rigidly developed and linked with a specific articulated metaphysical system; doctrinal meaning tends to overlay religious or personal experience; orthopraxy, orthodoxy, heteropraxy, and heterodoxy can be key issues |
Derived from: Shinto:The Way Home by Thomas P. Kasulis
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